Teekay is taking competence management to new heights, establishing its own competency management program. DNV recently issued a statement of compliance to Teekay for its system - the world's first competence management system certificate
DNV has issued the world's first Competence Management System certificate to Teekay. The standard used is the DNV SeaSkill Standard for Certification of Competence Management Systems, a unique standard in the maritime world, which helps organisations put in place a certified system to develop and manage competence. It is expected to become the standard-bearer of competence management systems in the maritime sector. DNV is the only class society to offer such certification.
The new standard will assist organisations that place competence management on their list of priorities. It sets the bar high enough to ensure continuous improvement in competence management, with regular audits of both onshore systems and ships, and takes into account both the business goals of an organisation and statutory requirements.
Beyond compliance
"This is DNV's contribution to making the maritime industry look beyond compliance, when it comes to competence," says Tor E. Svensen, chief operating officer of DNV Maritime. "The International Maritime Organisation's Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Convention was a welcome step in the right direction. At the same time, the best companies are already looking beyond satisfying minimum requirements and focusing on competence as a strategic tool. DNV wants to be at the forefront of this development. Our competence-system standard and the accompanying certification will assist such companies to attain best-in-class status."
The Standard forms part of the integrated structure for competence management being offered to the maritime industry by DNV SeaSkill, the other two services being certification of training courses and certification of personnel.
"Teekay is intent on expanding its activities and the development of a formal competency management system is a logical step in our drive to reach this goal and further our continuous improvement and quality service to customers," says Graham Westgarth, president of Teekay Marine Services.
A listed company on the New York Stock Exchange, Teekay moved its head office from Long Beach, California to Vancouver in 1991. Today, the company has a global network of 16 offices. As a publicly-listed company, it aims to be the industry's premier tanker shipping company. Says Westgarth, "Quality of organisations and processes will be more and more visible going forward. It is now a highly regulated industry, with greater demands. Certain standards of operation are customer driven, therefore, operations strategies need to support our business objectives."
For the past two years, Teekay has been developing its own competency management program, Seafarer Competence for Operational Excellence (SCOPE). According to John Adams, head of marine human resources, based in Glasgow, "It's our people who help us achieve world-class standards in safety and operations. SCOPE was developed to establish the highest standards of professionalism at sea and supports our philosophy of continuing professional development."
The program goes well beyond legislative requirements for certificates of competency and includes Teekay Competencies; Management/Leadership Behaviour Competencies; Overall Knowledge and Understanding; Aptitude; Experience; and Attitude and Motivation.
Supporting staff development
Explaining the incentive for Teekay Shipping to be certified, Kevin Hewlett, director, seafarer competence & career development, says, "SCOPE allows us to support our staff in their individual development and in their contributions to our overall success."
Norway-based Seagull provides training administration and computer-based training modules. Explains Hewlett, "Working together, we have developed a new system that will support the administrative requirements of the program. The system has the capability to handle a very large range and number of competencies and training requirements for all ranks - and there are around 30 Teekay-specific competencies within each rank. In addition, onboard computer-based training is used extensively."
Of DNV's competence management system, Hewlett says: "We discovered that Teekay and DNV were separately developing competence management concepts. DNV perceived an industry need to compile a code of practice, which they have done through their DNV SeaSkill unit. We saw this as being very beneficial, as it brought together two sides of the shipping industry - the assessor and the operator. The first stage of the audit was recently carried out in Teekay's Glasgow office. The next stage of the certification process includes the audit of the entire Teekay Shipping fleet."
New sectors
Business is going well for Teekay. A good foundation was created by the company's success in the early 1980s. Over the past five years, it has gone from being an owner operating 43 ships to operating over 100 ships and managing another 20 or so. In this process, the company has acquired and merged with other shipping companies and taken them into the Teekay fold.
Teekay has expanded into the LNG sector, as well as having already established a significant presence in the shuttle-tanker market. The company is still focused on building its tanker business further, with a blend of fixed-rate and spot tanker segments.
Best practices
Says Westgarth: "We are proud of our achievements in recent years, but we are continually striving to improve. With our ongoing investment in maintaining a large, modern, high-quality tanker fleet, the equipment side is well in hand. We've been active regarding personnel initiatives. The operational procedures area is also important to us and we have, over the past few years, strengthened our best practices through several initiatives, including the SCOPE system, shipboard training and refined ship safety-performance measures."
As one of the world's leading shipping companies, Teekay has gained a reputation of having a better knowledge of the shipping business than many others. This has placed greater demands on the company, but has also given Teekay a competitive edge.
Westgarth describes the competition as tough, but emphasises that Teekay is committed to maintaining its market position and has a defined strategy to meet its customers' requirements, and to assist them wherever possible.
"The increased emphasis on environmental protection, personnel safety and improved operational practices in the shipping industry is an opportunity to continually improve the overall integrity of the company's operations. Ultimately, our customer-oriented approach will differentiate us from our competitors," he says.
"This approach is being made easier through our work with DNV," concludes Westgarth. "Based on our experience so far, we're confident that the competence system work with DNV will help us achieve our goal of becoming the premier tanker shipping company, while continuing to provide our customers with the best possible service."